Jilly Cooper's top 10 romantic novels

Jilly Cooper's latest novel, Score! (Bantam Press, £16.99), tells the story of the filming of Verdi's darkest opera, with tensions between a villainous conductor, a charismatic French director and a volatile cast of stars erupting in murder. How to Survive Christmas (Bantam Press, £9.99) is a blackly comic light-hearted guide to coping with the festive season.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

An incredibly funny, very upmarket love story with an enchanting heroine and the perfect romantic hero: a tartar with a heart of gold.

2. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Another great romantic story, in which the adorable intellectually pretentious heroine makes a disastrous marriage to a dessicated fossil before finding true love with a penniless somebody.

3. A Dog Day by Walter Emmanuel with illustrations by Cecil Alden

Quite the best dog story ever written, covering a day in the life of a stylish but wayward Victorian puppy.

4. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Another wonderful and incredibly funny love story, based on the antics of the legendary Mitford sisters and their eccentric parents. A seminal book for my generation - as schoolgirls we all dreamed of the hero, that marvel of Gallic sophistication the Duke de Sauveterre.

5. The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins

One of the most brilliant and saddest novels ever written. The feeling of menace is unbearable as a gentle, beautiful, sensitive wife loses her smooth, cold lawyer husband to a formidable boot.

6. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

The hugely satisfying and quite unputdownable story of high jinks and politicking in a cathedral town. Unforgettable characters include the bishop's wife, the thuggish Mrs Proudie, and her adversary, the unctuous, scheming Mr Slope.

7. The Tale of Mr Tod by Beatrix Potter

Two of Potter's finest villains - Mr Tod, a suave fox, and Tommy Brook, a louche badger - slug it out while their rabbit victims escape. High comedy.

8. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Another wonderfully funny novel, about the goings-on in a London parish. A handsome naval officer and his feckless, unprincipled wife cause havoc among the flower-arranging ladies and the local vicar.

9. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell

The first touching and hilarious volume in Powell's magnificent 12-book series Dance to the Music of Time shows Jenkins and his cronies at Eton, then moving on to life in London. We also catch our first glimpse of the great comic creation Kenneth Widmerpool. All 12 volumes cannot be too highly recommended.

10. The Judge's Story by Charles Morgan

In this brief, marvellous novel by a woefully neglected author, a retired judge, poised to write his masterpiece, is caught up in the financial disaster of a glamorous young couple. Tragic consequences lead to a surprisingly satisfying ending. Subtlety of characterisation and Morgan's vast knowledge of classical literature add immensely to the story's charm.